No one in New Zealand actually wants to go around killing cats. Euthanizing them is the tool of last resort, and it’s generally prioritized for areas where urgency is high and other more humane solutions are hard to implement.

You can’t fuck around in an island ecosystem. You have to make hard choices in order to preserve the lives of the native plants and animals.

New zealand is extremely prone because its home to flightless birds and other similar species that never grew up against land predators of this nature. That's why cats and even rats are especially dangerous. These flightless birds have no real way of protecting their young and even themselves.

It's sad for cats because we see them as companions and pets, but new zealand holds a lot of critically endangered species that simply cannot exist anywhere else

Like humans aren't?

Perry the Catypus on his way to throw some paws

New Zealand has no native predators, and cats are extremely good predators.

These aren’t house cats that got lost, these are cats that are entirely wild and are now an invasive species. TNR would still decimate the local fauna while waiting for nature to take its course.

They also can’t be housed like you might do with a house cat turned stray.

as much as I love house cats, in New Zealand, the feral cats are an ecological apocalypse.

they gotta put thiel on that list

I don't think just spaying is enough. It'd have to be capture or even worst case euthanize. Leaving cats and any nonnative predator is especially harsh on local species each second they are in the wild because new zealand is one of the few places with flightless birds like the kakapo, which are critically endangered (just one step away from being extinct in the wild)

As someone who donates significantly to spay/neuter efforts (in the U.S.), these irresponsible people piss me the fuck off. To the extent that I have cut people out of my social circle over the issue.

I adopted mine, got her spayed, and she absolutely never goes outside. Not that she would, she’s too much of a chicken shit to bother trying to get out.

look up austrialian cat plague...at a certain point exterminating them is the only realistic option

Same.

Love cats.

Keep them in doors.

Outdoor cats and feral cats are walking, prowling ecological disasters.

Yep, there's a wild difference between "feral" city/suburbia cats, and actual wild feral cats.

I used to live in a pretty rural area in Hungary, butt end of suburbia, backing into the endless fields of wheat and corn, interrupted only by small patches of "woodland" (really just a dozen or so trees occupying a small area, enough to block the view but not big enough to house any larger animals, it's mostly birds, rodents and feral cats).

There used to be maybe ten colonies of feral cats in my immediate area, and those fuckers would fuck you up proper. They hated humans, and would cross half a field, a four lane road, and a canal just to attack you. Many a times I had to run from the bus stop to home to avoid a trip to tetanus and rabies land...

Absolutely. Those cats are destroying boobies. Unforgivable.

Maybe it's the cadence or the accent but I cannot process anything he is saying

TWEET!! Tweet tweet tweet! Tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweeeeeet! 🐥

That's just where you put programs that sound good but no one wants to spend the money to actually accomplish them. 2050 might be the end of the world, but it'd be because all the stuff we needed to do to head it off were given "we'll get to it eventually" deadlines.

The indigenous species have priority to exist.

Darkness

Honestly, cat is just pretty gross. Did not like at all, even before I knew what it was. Incredibly greasy, very unpleasantly gamey, weirdly stringy, do not recommend.

NZ is quite a bit smaller!

Are you a feral cat?

Not sure why this is such a controversial take. House cats should indeed not be outside, unless they are on a leash.

It's unfortunately far more than just birds. They kill billions of reptiles, fish, amphibians, and mammals each year. Not to mention their toxoplasmosis has been found in ocean otters (just an example of something far removed from the daily goings of a cat) and in the soil and ground water, as well as our foods. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7033973/

It's possible to do two things at a time. Cats and dairy are not mutually exclusive.

Brings back the horrific scene I came across at 14 of a cat arm in a pot.

Had a friend from Hong Kong tell cats don't taste good but dogs do. I took his word for it.

In that they'll discover a task that sounds easy will be practically impossible to accomplish?